The Re-Birth of Eight
by NimbusWolsbane
Summary: There was a day long ago when I failed my home, my family, my people. On that day I saw my planet burn and felt myself burn with it. I knew I would never see Lorien again. But now there is hope for me and all of Lorien. The Nine did their duty, they terraformed this planet and gave hope that Lorien would live again. They gave me something to fight for... Continued in book.
1. Book Description

There was a day long ago when I failed my home, my family, my people. On that day I saw my planet burn and felt myself burn with it. I knew I would never see Lorien again.

But now there is hope for me and all of Lorien. The Nine did their duty, even though many were lost on the way, they terraformed this planet and now Lorien lives again. They gave me something to fight for. This time I will not fail. This time I will burn every mog to ashes. This time I will kill Setrákus Ra.

They caught Number One in Malaysia,

Number Two in England,

Number Three in Kenya,

And Number Eight in Florida.

But no one else will die.

I AM PITTACUS LORE. AND I WILL END THIS FOR GOOD.


	2. Chapter 1 - Four and Sam

Sam's eyes suddenly become wide, starring at his outstretched, shaking hands.

"I Just…just," he mumbles.

"I'm very happy for you Sam but we really have to move." I quickly dive to Sam's right and draw my Loric dagger. I slight the throat of the nearest piken before opening the belly of another that was about to take a bite out of Sam's head. That would put an end to the festivities.

"What the Loric," Sam murmurs, "am I part alien?!" I roll my eyes and shoe him forwards. This seems to break him out of his reverie. Suddenly it dawns on him we are running from an angry hoard of piken and a full fleet of mog ships and not living the life of riley whilst discovering marvelous new abilities from the comfort of our own homes. We dash down Lexington, craining our necks to try and see the positions of the pikens, mog foot soldiers and war ships currently raining havoc on New York.

"We need to get to the rooftops." I shoat struggling to be heard over the sound of gunfire and roaring pikens. Sam nods and we sprint into an alleyway; somehow managing to doge both bullets and Mog fire, unsure if we are the intended targets or just caught in the crossfire. Panting I grasp the nearest fire escape and begin to haul my way up. We're half way up when I hear the first child scream. There, just visible of East 68th, the pikens that were chasing us converge on a yellow school bus lying on its side. A second scream rips through the air, soon joined by a chorus of others.

"Shit." I growl

"John, we need too…"

"I know."

Forty pikens against one and possibly a half Loric weren't great odds, not the worst odds I've ever faced, but bleak nonetheless. Maybe if Five and Nine weren't still squabbling like little children we could have taken them. We have to try of course; even if we die it's our moral obligation as Earth's last stand. That's what we get for being bloody heroes.

I clamber down the next ten or so rungs before dropping down onto the alley floor. I look up to see Sam making his progress down the ladder.

"Stop." I murmur. I stoop down and scoop up two guns from fallen policeman that have their guts hanging out. I chuck them up to Sam.

"Give me some cover from above, Telekinesis to knock them down if you can then a bullet to the center of the forehead. Draw their attention so they don't all rush me at once."

He nods once before tucking the guns into his belt and once more clambering up the fire escape.

I square my shoulders and unsheathe my Loric dagger; I relax and let my growing anguish out in the form of my glowing Lumien, my left hand sparks and a slowly a fireball grows on my palm. It's always like that at first, the fire manifests slowly but after about ten more fireballs it's almost instantaneous. I spot a ruined mini nested perfectly around five of the piken. It's resting on its hood, leaving its fuel tank perfectly exposed. I lob the fireball high into the air and hit the target dead center. The car explodes, taking the closest five piken with it, their ashes mixing with that of the car. That get's they're attention. Around half of the piken turn to face me, the rest continuing they're assault on the school bus. They converge on me, forming a semi-circle that forces me back to Lexington Avenue.

"Now would be a great time Sam." I yell. Nothing. I swallow and spread my legs, bracing the dagger against my forearm and sparking another fireball into life. The first of them pounces, an obvious diversion to allow the others to encircle me. The Mog scientists have obviously been hard at work to create monsters that can think like humans. I slip beneath its arc and slash the beast across the stomach. Dust rains upon me. I twist around, wildly trying to take in the scene around me. Around fifteen piken form a circle around me with a radius of around ten meters. They don't make any move to attack; instead they circle me in a slow and hypnotic rhythm, toying with me. This is a new breed of piken, more evolved, more dangerous and much, much more deadly.

"Sam…kind of about to die here" I shout again "Any assistance would be much appreciated." Again no answer, maybe he'll get the message when the others have my mark burned into the ankle. "SAM!"

"I'm a bit busy incase you hadn't noticed!" My much-needed reply finally arrives. I stare at the rooftops ahead of me and see a Mog ship slowly circling above, again these have been enhanced, two large cannons now adorn it's front. I here Sam's vehement swearing as the Mog ship begins to fire. Sam let's forth a hailstorm of bullets but they have no effect on the smooth metal of the ship's hull.

"Yer…on second thoughts I'll be all right, hopefully" I shout.

I return my attention to my impending doom, the piken have decreased the radius of the circle to a meager five meters. Now I can see the drool dripping from the beasts snarling lips and feel they're corrosive breath on the back of my neck. Enough of this. I charge the piken to the right of me, trying to get under his guard and break the circle. But my hopes are quashed before I can land a single blow. The piken on either side of the one I charge step forward and send their claws slicing in my direction. I dodge the first dagger like claws but I cannot hold onto this small victory for long. Within seconds I stumble back into the center of the circle, three deep gashes now etched onto my side. Even as I feel the icy tendrils stich back the ruined skin I now this is of little consequence. The pikens now arch their backs, pulling their heads and uttering a guttural cry – a cry for blood. I brace myself as do the piken. Unlike me however the piken do not adopt a defensive stance. Instead they tense and hunch, ready to spring. As one fifteen piken take to the air, their claws out every one of them aiming for my heart.

I pull my dagger through the air in a scything arc; I catch two piken but whether they are fatal blows I do not know. The first thing I feel is pain and then icy numbness spreading from my chest. I feel the air dragged from my chest and somewhere in a daze of agony and gore I register flying through the air and feeling my back slam into a brick wall. Through sheer force of will I pry open my eyes and let them slowly focus. As I suspected two of my attackers lie bleeding in the dirt were I once was. The rest are completely unscathed, they let forth a howl of victory. Half of the group split off and return their attention back to the bus while the largest of the group stalk slowly towards me, to finish the job. I feel my healing legacy kicking in but it will still be to late. I try to rise but me wreckage of a chest forces me back onto the cold road. I grunt in pain as I try to extend my left hand searching for a brick, pipe or piece of wood, anything I can use to defend myself. My fingers scrape against a stray brick but again this is futile. A piken stands over me, it's front paw clamped over my shoulder preventing any further movement. I smell it's vile breath as its mouth opens; I look up to see it's black rotten teeth that are preparing to rip my throat out. I close my eyes not wanting to see what happens next.

{-}

John issues a few commands that I barely register; my main focus is spent on the school bus. From here I can see about ten children and one adult, the driver of the bus lying in a pool of blood, ripped to shreds a few meters away. He tosses me two guns; I deftly catch them and quickly nod. I didn't listen to him but the meaning is clear. I quickly nod and climb the ladder, skipping every second rung. Panting I pull myself to the roof and take in my surroundings. Thankfully my journey is relatively straightforward, the roofs are all joined and the ground relatively even. I dash forward and position myself on the roof opposite the bus. I return my attention once more to the bus. The children have gathered in the center, shrieking as the piken smash glass and gouge metal. I see I fire ball whizz trough the air and cause a car close to the buss to explode fatally wounding five of the nearest piken. Knowing the tactic I quickly check the safety is of on both guns, I have twenty-four bullets. I have to make every one count. I draw myself to my full height and take careful aim at the head of the closest piken to John. I don't want to try telekinesis, not yet anyway. John told me once how much training he had to do to master it, my first experience was likely a lucky shot and no more, I can't risk hitting John or worse blast myself of the roof of a six story building. The piken are a few meters of John now, I prepare to fire on the first piken. The air around me picks up and swirls. I don't even need to look up to know its course. I clamber back across the rooftops, quickly finding refuge against an old chiller – pressing my back against the cool metal. There's an unlocked hatch a few meters ahead but I hope the rows of chillers that produce and spew cold air will shield me from the mogs heat sensors. I look up to size up the ship above me. It's a standard scout ship but still deadly, I know that its only weakness is the small slit of glass – a small target amongst the sea of bulletproof metal.

"Now would be a great time Sam."

John's words carry through the roar produced from the mog ship yet I am powerless to do anything. I twist my neck and just manage to see John being forced back down Lexington Avenue by around eighteen piken. I grit my teeth, why won't the bloody ship move? I look back and survey the ship. Its searchlight is currently illuminating the rooftops, moving in a grid pattern across the area I was aiming from. It appears to find nothing as the light quickly moves to the bus. It seems happy with the pikens destruction as the light flickers away.

"Sam…kind of about to die here" The mog ship, that only seconds ago was about to leave, swivels around in the air to face John. In a matter of moments the pilot recognizes him, part of the smooth metal peels back and a large cannon appears.

"Shit…John you idiot." I snarl.

Nothing for it, I break cover.

"Sam!" John's shout reaches me just as the canon discharges. I fling myself to the side, narrowly missing the white beam of energy that boroughs a large hole into the roof and landing perilously close to the edge.

"I'm a bit busy in case you hadn't noticed!" I hurl the words in John's general direction before scrabbling to my feet. I yank the guns from my belt and futilely pull the triggers. I don't know if you've ever tried to aim whilst run across a roof, trying not to fall of it whilst also dogging cannon fire, but I can officially tell you it's impossible to hit any target whatsoever. Unlike the movies I run out of bullets all to quickly and unlike the movies there is no perfect last bullet or surprise extra gun right in front of me. Perhaps the only movie-esc part is me chucking the guns at the ship as a desperate last resort. After all my efforts the mog ship is unscathed.

I dart across the rooftops, the ship's fire missing my heels by inches. I reach an edge and turn, fighting for breath. The cannon fire has suddenly stopped and with a sinking feeling I realize why. Another three ships have appeared out of nowhere every one of them have their cannons trained on me. I take half a dozen steps forwards and one of them fires a warning shot. I realize that the reinforcements haven't arrived for me but for John. Even if he managed to fight his way through he piken he will have to deal with four mog ships. I glance behind me. The gap seems like a mile wide and a six-step run up isn't nearly enough but if I make it to the other side at least two of the ships will have to come after me. If I don't, well at least one of them will have to recover my body. The fact that they haven't already blasted me apart means they know I have telekinesis, the mog scientists will want to know how a human has gained a Legacy and it would be easier to do that with me alive as appose to dead. I swallow, turn and run. At the last possible second I launch myself from the rooftop. I hurtle through the air and for mere seconds I think I may have made it. But, just past the halfway point I begin to drop.

I let out a ragged breath and twist mid-air and see all three ships plunging down with me. One last chance, I let out a blood curdling roar and punch out towards the ships. At first nothing happens but then something tear out from inside me. My wave of telekinesis serves a duel purpose, firstly is sends one of the mog ships into a corkscrew – causing it to crash into the street below. Secondly, it corrects my path, sending me hurtling through a window. The pain is intense and powerful. I feel it surging from my stomach and coursing through my body in electric arcs. I don't need to look down to see the piece of the metal from the window frame jutting from stomach. Lying in a pool of my own blood I manage to raise my head, both of the remaining mog ships have their cannons trained on me. There's no need, I probably have mere minutes left. But at least I gave John a chance, at least I won't die in vain…


End file.
